Drawing from the Lee Miller Archives this exhibition shows us, through Miller’s innovative lens, the varied ways in which Britain survived another world war with resilience and fortitude; weathering the Blitz, rationing and profound hardship. Her diverse images portray the story of a nation’s ingenuity, hard work, play, adaptability and, despite the destruction and loss caused by war, its communal, defiantly optimistic pursuit of endurance and beauty.
After a summer spent with Roland Penrose in France, Lee Miller arrived back at her newly adopted home in London on September 3rd 1939, the day that Britain declared war on Germany.
This began a new period of intensive artistic output for Miller. Between the winter of 1939 and summer of 1944, Miller was engaged in numerous assignments for British Vogue, becoming one of the magazine’s foremost photographers on home soil.
She completed many fashion shoots, as well as photographing evolving British life while the country adapted to the realities of a war fought at home; on its streets, fields, coastlines, and in its hospitals, factories and social spaces.
